BURLINGTON, Vt. — Joe Fallon is one of the best goaltenders in collegiate hockey, arguably the best in Hockey East. The Chicago Blackhawks’ draft choice, who returned to the University of Vermont this fall for his senior season, has made a habit of stifling opposing offenses during his time in Burlington. On most nights, Fallon plays a major role in the Catamounts’ drive toward victory.
By the conclusion of Friday’s game against Boston University at Gutterson Fieldhouse, however, Fallon was just another goalie — one of three, in fact, to see time in the Terriers’ 9-1 throttling of the Catamounts (1-5-1, 1-2-1 Hockey East) before a subdued crowd at “The Gut.”
BU (3-5-2, 3-2-1) jumped out to a 2-0 lead on first-period goals from junior forward Jason Lawrence and freshman defenseman Colby Cohen and never looked back, tacking on three more scores in the second and four in the final stanza to cap the program’s most lopsided road victory since 1989.
“You usually don’t see Vermont have some of the troubles they had in the goal,” said BU coach Jack Parker. “The puck was just jumping in the net for us, and then all of a sudden the game got out of hand.
“I told my guys, ‘I guarantee you we won’t see the same team out of Vermont [Saturday] night,'” he continued. “For us to explode like that won’t happen again. We’ve got to be ready [Saturday] night, because I know how good they are and how hard they play.”
Cohen sparked the Terriers’ first tally by ripping a blueline blast that bounced off the pads of Fallon (11 saves) and over to the far circle, where Lawrence gathered the puck and fired the rebound off Fallon’s skates and into the net at 9:10.
The rookie blueliner chipped in again at the 19:43 mark, collecting a perfect cross-ice pass from junior defenseman Matt Gilroy in the slot and powering a high slapshot over Fallon’s right shoulder.
Cohen’s score with 17 seconds remaining in the period, coupled with classmate Colin Wilson’s tally 31 ticks into the second, proved devastating for a Catamount team that showed little resiliency on a night when its star goaltender exited after yielding four goals in 29:57.
“We had some goals for the game,” Parker said. “One of them was not to give up goals in the first three minutes or last three minutes of a period because you get demoralized and ticked off going into the locker room. [Cohen’s goal] was big, and then we got a goal early in the second that was also big. When you get goals at the beginning or end of a period, it really pumps one team up and demoralizes the other team.”
Understudies Mike Spillane (four goals allowed) and Jeff Hill (one) succeeded Fallon in net, but did little to quiet the vaunted Terrier offense, which featured seven different goal scorers.
“We all know we have the capabilities to play with that type of powerful offense,” said senior forward Brian McGuirk. “It’s just good to get it going.”
The BU captain downplayed Fallon’s struggles, anticipating a much-improved goalie between the pipes Saturday night.
“He had an off night,” McGuirk said. “We know he’s a great goalie. We know he’s gonna be on top of his game [Saturday] night. You have to appreciate the offense [Friday], but put it in the past and get ready for [Saturday].
“Great goalies have short memories,” he added. “[Fallon]’s gonna put that in the past and be ready [Saturday] night for sure. We’ve seen him in the past, and he’s played unbelievable against us. We know what he’s capable of.”
BU goaltender Brett Bennett continued to solidify his status as the team’s top netminder, turning away 15 UVM shots in 49:34 before giving way to senior Karson Gillespie, who stopped the only shot he saw in 10:26 of action.